The president was gracious but tough, candid but thoughtful, and unlike his predecessor, did not sell out the country to a dictator.

Had Donald Trump been the U.S. president hosting this week’s APEC meetings, I have no doubt that the headline from the event would have been unchanged. It would have been: “He’s a dictator.”

The only difference is it would be Xi Jinping who was saying it to describe Trump.

Other than that, though, a Trump-hosted APEC meeting would likely have been unrecognizably different from the successful and productive forum hosted by President Joe Biden.